ve304856's birth story

ve304856 · September 2014

I started having contractions at 8:30pm on Sunday (9/14). I didn't start timing them because I was having contractions every night for weeks. Around midnight they started to get stronger so I started timing them. They were about 30-45 seconds long and were 5-10 min apart. Finally around 3am they were 2-3 min apart and lasting 45-60 seconds. I called the on call midwife and she told me to come in and get checked out. I arrived at the hospital at 4am and I was only 2 cm but the midwife accidentally broke my water when she was checking me so I got admitted. Since I was not in active labor yet they let me order breakfast. The contractions started to slow down so they started pitocin around 11:30am. I got my epidural around 1:30pm and my right side was completely numb but I could feel everything on my left side. The anesthesiologist came back in to see if he could move it a little bit, but that didn't work so he had to redo it. At 4:30pm I was only at 4 cm. The midwife came in and wanted to put a monitor inside next to the baby to measure the strength of the contractions since the outside monitor wasn't working too well and that way they will know how much pitocin to give me. At 6:30pm the midwife came back in and said I was ready to start pushing. Once they got ready they asked me if I wanted to use a mirror. (I wanted to see this time since I refused to look with my son.) After about 20 minutes of pushing Brooke was born on 9/15 at 7:06pm 7 lbs 2 oz. 19.25 inches long (I was 39 weeks 1 day). She came out sunny side up and had the cord wrapped around her neck. I had a 2nd degree tear but have been recovering well. She is perfect and so in love with her. Her big brother has been such a big help and loves his little sister.